McCarty suffered a right quad knock during Wednesday’s practice session and did not train on Thursday, and afterwards head coach Mike Petke revealed that his iron man midfielder is set to miss more than just the upcoming game at BMO Field (Saturday, 2 pm ET; TSN/RDS in Canada, MLS Live).

“Dax will be out, the word right now, two weeks,” said Petke after Thursday’s session. “He has a slight tear in his quad. It’s a small little tear, so [the medical staff] are only saying two to two-and-a-half weeks.”

The loss of McCarty is a big one for Petke, who will now likely have to partner Tim Cahill with a player who has not seen many minutes at central midfield this season.

Whoever is ultimately chosen to replace McCarty against Toronto and in the following week’s road match vs. the Columbus Crew will have some big shoes to fill. Aside from being a linchpin in New York’s defensive setup, McCarty has contributed two goals and one assist, playing every minute of the Red Bulls’ first nine games this season.

“It’s not an easy one to deal with but it’s the story of our season sometimes,” Thierry Henry told MLSsoccer.com. “You miss some players and you have to make sure that you can adapt and adjust. But obviously missing Dax is difficult because he is a big piece of our puzzle.”

Franco Panizo covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached by email at Franco8813@gmail.com.